She was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder when she was only 3 years old, changing her entire life.

Elli Holzer’s mother, Sally Holzer, said she started to notice something strange happening in the mornings before she fed her daughter as a baby.

Elli was having a seizure every morning. “She started having eye twitches and her head would bob a little bit,” Sally Holzer said.

After several tests, Elli's parents learned their daughter's brain was not processing sugar normally. They weighed their options and learned medications would not be enough to solve the problem. Instead, they turned to diet.

“For Elli’s condition, the only treatment is the Ketogenic diet,” Sally Holzer said.

Elli’s parents immediately started her on the keto diet — a high-fat, low carb lifestyle. Her mom said fat made up 92 percent of Elli's diet.

As a baby, Elli Holzer was fed meals like a tablespoon of yogurt mixed with a tablespoon of oil and a thin slice of apple.

Intermountain Healthcare’s Tara Finnerty, a registered dietician at Primary Children’s Hospital, explained how the diet works. “It forces your body to use fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates — or a simpler word is sugar,” she said.

Surprisingly, Finnerty suggests Elli Holzer eats heavy cream, butter and high-fat meats. “It’s kind of everything we’ve been told not to eat is actually allowed on this diet,” she said, "in addition to healthier fats like avocados and olives."

Although the diet demands much discipline and emotional endurance, Elli’s mom said the diet is worth it.